VARIETIES. 
273 
pound stoppers in use in Germany and other places. His attention had 
been especially drawn to them, partly in consequence of having recently 
received several pharmaceutical substances from Germany, contained in 
bottles closed with these stoppers ; and partly in consequence of having ob- 
served that many of the vegetable and other substances, sent from British 
Guiana to the Great Exhibition (most of which have been presented to the 
Pharmaceutical Society,) were preserved in bottles closed by this kind of 
stopper. 
These stoppers consist of an accurately turned cork, or bung, surmounted 
by a flat wooden disk, or top, glued to it. This top is either round or poly- 
gonal ; and maybe either colored or covered by paper. It projects beyond 
the circumference of the cork, and serves as a handle. Its upper surface 
being flat, is useful for inscribing either the name of the article contained 
in the bottle ; or, when the bottle is used in dispensing, the directions for 
the use of the medicine. 
These stoppers are very convenient for closing bottles and jars used in 
museums, for preserving dry objects of natural history; as fruits, seeds, 
leaves, &c. They are much lighter than glass stoppers, and are not liable 
to get fixed, as they may be removed with the greatest facility. Moreover, 
bottles closed by them may be placed sideways in a drawer, without incur- 
ring the danger of the stoppers falling out. 
To the Pharmaceutist, chey cannot but be useful and convenient, for the 
preservation of powders and other dry substances ; as well also for dispens- 
ing. Small bottles, closed with these stoppers, may be employed as sub- 
stitutes for pill-boxes. — London Pharm. Joum., Jan. 1852. 
Disinfecting Property of Chloroform. — Dr. Auguna, of Constantinople, 
in a Memoir (sopra una nuova proprieta del chloroformio,) establishes the 
excellence of chloroform as a disinfecting agent, and shows, by reference 
to some highly interesting experiments, how this, its newly discovered vir- 
tue, distinguishes chloroform from the older ansesthetic sulphuric ether. 
Taking three wide-mouthed and thoroughly clean bottles, Dr. Auguna 
placed in one a small quantity of chloroform, and in another a small quan- 
tity of sulphuric ether ; while into both he introduced a piece of the muscle 
of an ox. The muscle was placed in the third bottle, but no fluid was 
added ; the three were then accurately closed. It was soon observed that 
the color of the flesh in the bottle containing chloroform changed from a 
deep red, its original hue, to a vermilion shade, but that the muscle in the 
bottle containing ether remained unchanged. At the termination of a 
week, the effect was still more clearly displayed ; while the flesh in the 
bottle of air remained unaltered, that in contact with the chloroform had 
assumed the appearance of cooked meat. Upon opening the bottles, the 
flesh in the ether, and that in the air, exhaled a most offensive odor, and 
was itself far advanced in putrefaction. Not so that preserved in chloro- 
